Asian Parliament Assembly Meeting in Iran focus on Peace and Security in Asia

By Chhorng Long Heng
Cambodian lawmakers led by H.E Try Cheang Hour, chairman of the third committee of the Cambodian National Asssembly on Tuesday departed here to attend the conference of Asia Parliament Assembly (APA) in Teheran, Iran from 12-14 May within the agenda of the peace and security in Asia.
“This meeting will focus on building peace and security, political affairs in Asian region and global issues,” H. E Try Cheang Hourt told reporters at the Phnom Penh international Airport before departure.
He added: the meeting will discuss on the major political affairs of permanent committee of the APA and the meeting of sub committee on major issues of peace and security in Asia as whole. At that same time, we will debate on the issue of sub committee on declaration on principles of friendship and cooperation in Asia. “And we also have another issue of the sub committee on enhancing cooperation between APA Member Parliaments and their Governments in Asia,” he stresses.
“The sensitive issue of the meeting is the violations of International Humanitarian Law in Palestine and the War Crimes Committed by Zionist Regime in Gaza, that is the role of the APA wills contribute to helping solve this issue,” he noted. He continued that in Iran, we will have other meetings of the Ad-hoc Working Group on “Information Communication Technology”.
He said: The result of the conference will set up as action plan and decision to report to the meeting of the operational council of APA to approve in full general assembly.
He continued that Cambodia decided to agree on those major issues to help integrate Asian region and we hope it will have positive result from the conference, he said, adding that Cambodia also plans to organize the meeting of “sub committee on the protection and respect other cultures in Asia” that could be held from 5- 7 July in Phnom Penh this year. He highlighted that last year Cambodia already chaired the meeting of sub committee of the APA on “Poverty reduction on Asia” at Siem Reap Province.
He reminded that the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) vision is “our vision is Asian Integration” and it was born in 2006 at the Seventh Session of the Association of Asian Parliamentary for Peace (AAPP). In other words, the APA is continuation of an organization which was established in 1999. The APA comprises, in 2007, of 41 Member Parliaments and 17 observers. Each Member Parliament has a specific number of seats in the Assembly based on the size of their population.

The number of total seats, and therefore, number of votes, is currently 206. Members of Assembly must be elected by members of the Member Parliaments. The APA Charter and Tehran Declaration lay out a framework of cooperation among Asian countries, and point out to a vision; that is Asian Integration.

According to the background of APA, The Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace grew out of the collective desire and concerted effort of legislators and members of civil society in Asia to promote peace in general and in the Asian region, in particular. The AAPP was established in September 1999 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to promote unity toward the single purpose of peace and a concrete framework for regional cooperation to strengthen human rights protection and democracy. The AAPP was to cultivate strategies for the realization of peace and the right to development as well as social, cultural, and environmental rights of the peoples in Asia.

It had other meetings of the first AAPP General Assembly was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh in September 1999. The Second AAPP General Assembly was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on November 5-10, 2000. The Third AAPP General Assembly was held in Beijing and Chongqing on April 16-19, 2002. The Fourth AAPP General Assembly was held in Manila, Philippines on August 31 - September 4, 2003.The Fifth AAPP General Assembly was held in Islamabad, Pakistan on November 29 – December 3, 2004.

The Sixth AAPP General Assembly was held in Pattaya, Kingdom of Thailand in 2005.The Seventh AAPP General Assembly and the First APA Plenary were held in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran from 12 to 14 November 2006.The Seventh Session of the General assembly of the Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace was held in Tehran from 12 to 14 November 2006. AAPP was transformed into Asian Parliaments Assembly in pursuit of peace based on justice and of closer Asian parliamentary cooperation.
Secretariat, Article 12 of the APA Charter reads in part:” The venue of the Secretariat shall be in the country of the elected president of the Assembly. On the basis of Article 13 of the APA Charter, the Honourable Dr. Haddad Adel was elected as the first President of the APA for a two-year term of office. Accordingly, the Hounroble, Dr. Haddad Adel, the president of the APA, appointed H.E. Dr. Hadi Nejad Hosseinian, as his senior adviser and the Secretary-General of the APA Secretariat.

The Secretariat has established 11 working groups consisting of government and non-governmental experts and academics to study, under close direction of a steering committee, headed by Honourable, Mr. M. H. Aboutorabi, and consisting of Honourables Mr. H. Shaykholislam, Mr. E. Afroogh, Mr. F. Mousavi, and Ms. E. Aminzadeh, the following subjects so that the President of APA could submit to the APA for its consideration a Draft Plan of Action called for under paragraph 9 of Tehran Declaration. The working group included the pact of Friendship in Asia, Integrated Energy Market in Asia, Asian Monetary Fund. (Paragraph 30 of Tehran Declaration), Globalization; Opportunities and Challenges for Asia, Reducing Poverty in Asia, UN MDG, Cultural Diversity, the Strength of Asia, Combating Corruption, and promoting Good Governance, Drafting the APA Rules of Procedures. As required under Article 15 of the Charter, Preparing the agenda and organization of the Joint Conference of the APA parliamentarians and Foreign Ministers of the member states, developing possible areas for enacting common legislations, organizing a public information campaign.###